The newly reconstructed Adjalala of King
Glélé. Photo: Francesca Piqué.

Of the many European travelers to the Kingdom of Dahomey in West
Africa during the 19th century, explorer and writer Sir Richard
Burton was one of the few to leave a detailed written record of
his experience. In the 1860s Burton was sent by the British government
to negotiate certain matters with King Glélé of Dahomey.
From his account it is clear he was impressed with the Dahomey monarch's
regal appearance and gracious demeanor. However, he also expressed
frustration with the resistance of the king to diplomatic demands.

Three bas-reliefs on the exterior walls of the
Adjalala—or palace—of King Glélé; before their
removal in 1988. Photo: Courtesy the Benin Department
of Cultural Heritage.

"The personal courtesies of the King," he later wrote, "compared
badly with his stubborn resolve to ignore, even in the smallest
matters, the wishes of Her Majesty's Government." King Glélé's
assessment of Burton—according to Burton himself—was that he was
"a good man, but too angry."

Given
Dahomey's history, the king's refusal to be submissive in the face
of another nation's dictates should not have been surprising. Dahomey
was a politically powerful kingdom in its own right. Following its
founding in the early 17th century, it acquired a military prowess
that made it one of the richest and most powerful nations in West
Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries.

A column of bas-relief replicas as they appear
on the newly reconstructed Adjalala. Photo: Susan
Middleton.

This military might—based in part on companies of female warriors
whose fierceness in battle equaled that of their male counterparts—enabled
Dahomey to capture considerable numbers of prisoners of war. The
kingdom's main source of wealth was the selling of these prisoners
as slaves to Europeans eager for cheap labor to work the plantations
and fields of the New World. Indeed, ending the traffic in slaves
was one of the demands of the British. King Glélé's
response to Burton was that the slave trade was an ancestral custom
that had been established by the Europeans themselves, and he would
continue to sell what the Europeans wanted.

Some of Dahomey's wealth went into the construction of royal palaces.
Almost from the kingdom's beginnings, its rulers built earthen palaces
in its capital, Abomey, in the heart of what is now the Republic
of Benin. According to tradition, King Dakodonou constructed the
first palace in 1645, and thereafter each king had his palace built
near that of his predecessors.

Starting with the reign of King Agadja (1708-32), bas-reliefs were
incorporated into the royal palace facades. Inset in niches in the
walls, they were executed in semi-relief; their modeling was achieved
by the addition of earth. Once dry, they were painted in bright
colors made by mixing a variety of local products, including kaolin,
palm oil, red and yellow ochre, and carbon black. (More recent repaintings
have been done with modern paint materials.)

The
bas-reliefs constituted an integral decorative feature of the palaces,
illustrating the Fon people's rich cultural heritage, complex mythology,
customs, and system of rituals. In pictorial form, they recounted
the battles fought and the tortures to which enemies were subjected,
glorifying the victories and power of each king. Their function
was to represent the significant events that marked the evolution
and power of the Fon people and their kingdom. For a society without
written documents, the bas-reliefs became an important and unique
record of the past. "They are our only written history left," Benin
historian Nondichao Bachalou has noted. "They are history told on
our walls."

The palace bas-reliefs also depicted mythical and actual animals
that symbolized the characteristics of the kings and their power
as rulers. One of the animals most associated with the reign of
Glélé (1858-89) was the lion. When Glélé's
Adjalala, or official palace, was constructed, the lion was featured
in 15 of the building's 56 bas-reliefs.

A century after his death, these bas-reliefs, which told the story
of Glélé's achievements, have themselves become a
story. Their conservation is presently the purpose of a special
project being undertaken by the Getty Conservation Institute and
the Republic of Benin.

The Royal Palaces

King Agoli-Agbo Dedjalagni of Abomey, surrounded
by members of the royal entourage and the bas-relief conservation
team. Photo: Susan Middleton.

The Royal Palaces of Abomey, a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, are composed of several earthen buildings covering an
area approximately 44 hectares (190 acres) in Abomey. The
entire site is still regularly used for traditional ritual
activity and for ceremonies involving the royal family.
Within the site is the Musée Historique d'Abomey,
housed in the palace compounds of King Glélé
and his father, King Guezo (1818-58).

Problems for the palace site began at the close of the
19th century, when France claimed Dahomey as a protectorate
and the kingdom's dominance in West African affairs came to
an end. When French forces approached in 1892, King Behanzin
ordered that the city of Abomey-including the palaces-be
burned, with the intention of keeping it from falling into
their hands. The French captured Abomey and made Behanzin's
brother, Agoli-Agbo, the new king under the French colonial
government.

Under King Agoli-Agbo I's leadership, the royal palaces
were restored around the beginning of this century. It is
not clear how much of the palaces were destroyed in the fire
and reconstructed early on, and there are many questions
regarding the dates of origin of the surviving bas-reliefs.
They may have been reproduced all or in part after French
colonization. Early documents report that the royal compound
at Abomey appeared as a vast camp of ruins. The Adjalala of
King Gléléor the Salle des Bijoux (Hall of
the Jewels) as the palace is now knownis listed among the
buildings still visible. This suggests that of the surviving
bas-reliefs, those from the Salle des Bijoux are possibly
from an original group. Whatever their age, they are the
oldest of the bas-reliefs that remain.

In 1911 the French undertook their own effort to restore
the palaces, particularly the compounds of Guezo and
Glélé. Additional restorations took place
between 1931 and 1933 and included the reconstruction of
buildings and bas-reliefs and the replacement of traditional
high-pitched, wide-eaved thatched roofs with low-pitched
roofs of corrugated metal. These latter changes ultimately
proved damaging to the palace bas-reliefs since, without the
protection of the wide-eaved roofs, they suffered extensive
erosion and decay.

Following heavy rains that damaged the palaces in April
1977, the government of Benin contacted UNESCO for advice on
conserving and restoring both the museum collections and the
damaged structures. In 1977 and 1978 UNESCO provided
conservation assessment, restoration plans, conservation
equipment, and recommendations for long-term measures to
safeguard the museum. In the mid-1980s the Royal Palaces of
Abomey were included as a cultural site in peril on the
UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1988, at the suggestion of a German architect working
in Benin, the Salle des Bijoux bas-reliefs were detached
from their facade prior to the building's
reconstruction.

Because these were the last bas-reliefs thought to be originals, they
were the only ones saved in the reconstruction of different palace
buildings in the museum compound. After they were removed, the Salle
des Bijoux bas-reliefs were remounted as individual panels in heavy
casings of stabilized earth (local earth plus 8%-10% cement). Since
their detachment, they have been moved several times between different
storage areas in the museum.

Conserving the Bas-Reliefs

In 1991 a delegation from the GCI—including Director
Miguel Angel Corzo, then—Special Projects Director Neville
Agnew, Training Program Director Marta de la Torre, and
Julian Zugazagoitia, a GCI consultant—visited several sites
in West Africa to familiarize themselves with conservation
needs in the region. During the delegation's visit to the
Royal Palaces of Abomey, the Benin Ministry of Culture and
Communications requested assistance in conserving the
deteriorated bas-reliefs. Because of its interest in African
cultural heritage and its expertise in conservation of
earthen materials, the Institute agreed to collaborate with
the Department of Cultural Heritage—part of the Ministry of
Culture and Communications—on a project to document the
bas-reliefs, study the causes of their deterioration,
conserve them, and provide training to selected local
staff.

"We wanted to maintain authentic elements on the site
upon which we could build archives," explains Rachida de
Souza, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage.
"With that idea in mind we knocked on many doors. The Getty
Conservation Institute responded favorably to our appeal,
encouraged us, and helped us undertake a unified program of
research, documentation, training, and conservation." Once
the bas-reliefs are conserved, she says, they will form an
integral part of the museum's collections.

Of the 56 bas-reliefs originally on the walls of the
Salle des Bijoux, 50 were located. Unfortunately, their
detachment had fundamentally changed them. No longer an
ensemble of architectural elements with a story to tell, the
bas-reliefs were now separate artifacts—a fact that
diminished their significance as a set of symbols recounting
the feats of Glélé and his power as king.

The storage space at the Musée Historique
d'Abomey where the bas-reliefs have been housed. Photo: Leslie Rainer.

The badly damaged back of one of the bas-reliefs prior to
treatment. Photo: Susan Middleton.

The same bas-relief, treated with Japanese
paper and surrounded by cotton, during preliminary treatment.
Photo: Susan Middleton.

For most of the panels, the depth and proportions of the
niches had been modified by the cement casings, so that
their original appearance had changed. Moreover, many of the
bas-reliefs were severely damaged. One bas-relief had fallen
and was in pieces face down in an outdoor storage area.
Previous restorations and repairs were evident, and many
areas exhibited differences in level, color, and surface
texture. Additionally, several superimposed paint layers
could be identified, at times revealing an entirely
different polychromy in the different layers.

The collaborative project to conserve the bas-reliefs was
officially launched in autumn 1993 with the first
conservation campaign. Since then, work has been carried out
during spring and fall field campaigns, supported by
research, preparation, and study in between. During the
campaigns the bas-reliefs—each weighing up to 300
kilograms, or over 650 pounds (about as heavy as a large
refrigerator)—must be moved from their storage area into
the atelier for treatment, then back into storage following
conservation, to await their ultimate public display. Local
resources are being used for the manufacture of customized
iron easels, storage for the bas-reliefs, and a system of
transport, which includes a custom-designed pushcart, a
dolly, and a pulley system for moving the artworks.

The conservation is limited to the stabilization of the
bas-relief panels. Prior to transportation, the fragile
paint layers of each bas-relief are temporarily protected
with a facing of Japanese paper applied with water over the
painted surface. Unsightly old repairs that show a
difference in level, color, or texture are removed or
leveled. Further conservation treatment includes the filling
of cracks and voids. For this procedure, local earth
matching that in the originals is used. Delaminated paint
layers are reattached with a very dilute acrylic emulsion
adhesive. Finally, with cotton swabs and water, the surfaces
are cleaned of the drips and accumulation of red earth.
Inpainting is limited to background areas, so that the
traces of damage and of wear—evidence of the bas-reliefs'
history and age—are left exposed.

One of the main objectives of the project is to train
selected Department of Cultural Heritage staff members in
the planning and practical aspects of the conservation
program.

Training covers project development and organization;
documentation and technical examination; theory and practice
of conservation; and storage, exhibition, and long-term
maintenance of the bas-reliefs.

Mme de Souza believes that the knowledge gained through
the project by her department's staff will have a long-term
impact. "Some of the staff will remain on the site to assure
continuing preventive conservation of the bas-reliefs.
Others will return to their respective museums, but will be
a continuing resource for the Abomey site. At the same time,
they will also pass on and continue to use their acquired
knowledge at other sites where there are similar problems of
conservation and restoration."

Documentation is another significant aspect of the project. It includes
historic research on the bas-reliefs to assist in understanding
their evolution and the causes of their deterioration over time.
The project team is also preparing written, graphic, and photographic
documentation of the conservation itself. In addition, the GCI is
producing a one-hour documentary for the general public on the conservation
and cultural significance of the royal bas-reliefs.

The Future of the Bas-Reliefs

The conservation team at work in
the atelier. Photo: Susan Middleton.

A long-term maintenance and monitoring program is now
being designed and implemented for the conserved
bas-reliefs, and an exhibit featuring them will ultimately
be installed at the Musée Historique d'Abomey. Since
their detachment from the Salle des Bijoux facade in 1988,
the building has been reconstructed, and copies of the
original bas-reliefs now adorn it. While it would have been
appropriate to reinstall the bas-reliefs in their original
positions on the facade of the Salle des Bijoux, it is
perhaps preferable to exhibit them in an interior setting
where they will be more protected.

Not only does the Salle des Bijoux house part of the
museum's collection, it is also an integral part of a palace
grounds and continues to serve as the site of royal rituals
and events. Because of the site's ceremonial importance, the
present king, Agoli-Agbo Dedjalagni, and the royal family
are consulted on its conservation, management, and
development. The king and his ministers have met several
times with the team conserving the bas-reliefs, and the king
himself has shown his interest in the project by making an
official visit to the conservation atelier and the residence
of the GCI team in Abomey. Afterward he stated that this
visit was an expression of the royal family's appreciation
for the work being done. The king's prime minister, Damien
Agoli-Agbo, told the team that his visit to the conservation
atelier had changed his conception of what preservation
meant with regard to the bas-reliefs. He now recognized that
rather than restoring the bas-reliefs to their original
state, the project was preserving their history.

The bas-reliefs, both those being conserved and those
still being made, reflect a culture that integrates living
tradition with the objects and sites of its past. The
conservation of the palace bas-reliefs is part of a larger
effort to preserve this living culture, craft, history, and
national identity.

The palace buildings, the museum's collection of objects,
and the bas-reliefs are important not simply for the past
they represent but also for the tradition they help
maintain. Because of its continued ceremonial use, the
Musée Historique d'Abomey is not solely a museum in
the traditional sense.

"Our colleagues," says Mme de Souza, "tell us that this
is not a museum, since the objects, though they are museum
pieces in the sense that they are inventoried, continue to
be used. The site also is functional." The ceremonies and
rituals observed on the palace grounds are part of what she
calls the nation's "nonmaterial" culture. "We believe that
this site lives through the complementary existence of its
material culture—its buildings, its objects, its
bas-reliefs—and its nonmaterial culture, which is its most
important dimension."

A royal bas-relief after conservation treatment.
It depicts a hornbill, one of King Glélé's symbols
of power. Photo: Susan Middleton.

For the GCI as well, the Abomey project is more than the
conservation of a set of unique objects. It is the
preservation of culture—and, as Neville Agnew, the
Institute's Associate Director for Programs, expresses it,
"the cultivating of a growing consciousness in Benin
regarding the importance of conservation."

It is an appropriate image given the meaning of King
Glélé's name—"cultivated field"—derived from
the traditional saying "The cultivated field is difficult to
move." For Glélé, the name was meant to convey
the firm roots of his power. Perhaps in the future it will
come to stand for the enduring quality of the culture he
represented.

Francesca Piqué is a Special Projects Research Fellow at
the GCI. Leslie Rainer is a Special Projects Senior Fellow. Together
they lead the GCI's team on the Abomey project.